Assisted Work: Rock-Fish and Silver Fish Sculptures

I spent the last two days working with Ene Osteraas-Constable of the established artist team of Wowhaus: http://www.thewowhaus.com. Along with other volunteers and using iridescent glass mosaic tile we worked on a 10' high silver fish and 6' long orange rock-fish. These will be permanently installed in a San Francisco library. I loved the time I spent there. I got to work Ene who is so talented and she helped me get a grasp on working in 3D. Their home is beautiful and surrounded by redwoods and only a 10 minute drive from the pacific coast.

On the first day I worked on completing the lips. Jane, another volunteer from SF, had done work on them the days before so I had a good guide. The tiles have to lay flat without any sharp edges or corners sticking out. Lots of kids will play near these and touching the tiles. Working in 3D on rounded surfaces make it a challenge but it is doable. The bridge of it's nose is so smooth everyone who came to admire the rock-fish would put their hand there. Scott, Ene's husband, decided that it's nose was the mezzuzah.

I did not spend any time on the silver fish but it is beautiful. I think the tiles look like shimmering scales and you can see how it's body is turning and swimming. Ene and her husband built the cement sculptures themselves!It was hard to get the entire fish in one shot, but this gives you an idea of it's size and shape.
A cat in a box. I had to take a picture of this for Samantha. What is it about cats in boxes? So adorable. For more cats in boxes.

Another great part about working with Ene is that she made us lunch each day! Everything was homemade and the veggies came from her garden and eggs from her chickens. When we took a tour of the property and stopped by the chicken coop, Ene collected the eggs and told us that one of the chickens lays blue eggs. I thought that was pretty cool and so as a parting gift Ene gave me the single blue egg from that day :)